Past deadline, NBA, union set to meet again Thursday

NBA owners gave the players union a take-it-or-leave it ultimatum Wednesday. After 12 hours of extensive talking, both sides were tight-lipped as to whether or not they could bridge the gap for a new collective bargaining agreement.

"Obviously we'd have a done deal if the right flexibility is shown," union president Derek Fisher said. "We can't say significant progress was made."Both sides, however, are meeting here again Thursday at noon which hints that cheap jerseys some form of progress was made. And the tone was decidely less acidic this time.NBA Commissoner David Stern warned earlier this week that the owners' 50-50 split offer of basketball-related income would be pulled off the table at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday if the union didn't accept their terms. The owners, he said, would offer the players 47% and call for a hard salary cap instead.That didn't happen Wednesday as the sides went eight hours beyond Stern's "deadline" as the lockout enters its 133rd day.Union executive director Billy Hunter had scoffed at Stern's demand, calling it "artificial," and his calculation was correct."We've stopped the clock as we continue to negotiate," Stern said. "Every day we lose a game it enhances the case to make a deal."We're not failing, we're not succeeding. We're just there."The sides appeared to have found common ground on the split of BRI at roughly 50-50. In the last CBA that expired July 1, players received 57%. That seven-point rollback would result in $280 million-plus a year in overall salary reductions for players.While Fisher said earlier in the week that the union would consider coming cheap jerseys free shippingdown from its last demand of 52.5% to 50, which represented an additional $100 milllion-plus a year in givebacks, he refuted Wednesday that a formal offer has been made.Player representatives for 29 of 30 NBA teams met with union executives here Tuesday and voiced support to reject the NBA's 50-50 offer because it would restrict player movement by limiting the salaries for midlevel free agents who sign with luxury-tax paying teams and those teams' ability to move players via sign-and-trade deals.Once the system to deliver that money to the players is solved, a 50-50 deal likely can be reached.But if the owners follow through with their intention of dropping the offer to players to 47% if an agreement isn't reached in this latest round of talks, that likely would trigger a domino effect that could end any chance for a 2011-12 season.The pressure to decertify the union will immediately mount, according to three persons familiar with decertification talks who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to go public.The push to decertify has come from players and agents unhappy with the league's bargaining position.To start that push, 30% of union membership — roughly 130 players — cheap nfl jerseys free shipping must sign a decertification petition for the National Labor Relations Board to authorize a vote within 45-60 days. Hunter told NBATV he was under the impression about 200 players were prepared to sign the decertification petition.If 50% of the membership votes in favor of decertification, the union dissolves. Players then could bring antitrust lawsuits against the NBA for the lockout.Proponents of decertification believe the mere threat of dissolving the union would put pressure on owners to make a deal that isn't as onerous on players.But antitrust lawsuits are expensive and time-consuming and could put the 2011-12 season further in jeopardy.The union has resisted decertification, preferring to collectively bargain with the NBA, and told players in a meeting Tuesday that decertification is not a viable strategy.Like Stern, Hunter was reluctant to sound optimistic about today's scheduled talks. He even suggest talks could spill over into the weekend.Said Hunter: "So many issues haven't been resolved."http://unica.forumotion.com/t56-past-deadline-nba-union-set-to-meet-again-thursdayThose issues are: Midlevel exception, luxury tax, sign-and-trade, the tax cliff and 10% of each player's paycheck to go into an escrow account — money that is reserved if the league spends more than the specified percentage of BRI.